Initiative to curb methane emissions extends its member base as UK firm enrols

UK-headquartered oil and gas company Neptune Energy has backed an industry initiative, aiming to remove methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 2030. 

Neptune Energy informed on Wednesday that it had come on board the Aiming for Zero Methane Emissions Initiative – a project to cut emissions of harmful greenhouse gas to near zero by 2030 – explaining that its support for the initiative was complementing its own “ambitious” target for zero methane emissions by the end of the decade.

Pete Jones, Neptune Energy’s CEO, remarked: “We already have one of the lowest methane intensities in the industry at 0.02 per cent and are on track to achieve our own target of zero methane emissions by 2030, so fully support this initiative. To achieve our targets, we are deploying a full range of initiatives that include using the best available technologies to eliminate routine flaring, upgrading equipment and improving energy efficiency.”

This initiative, which was developed by the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), aims for methane emissions to be “treated as seriously as the oil and gas industry already treats safety: aiming for zero and striving to do what it takes to get there.”

Furthermore, signatories of this initiative aim to reach near-zero methane emissions from their operated assets by the end of this decade, avoid methane venting and flaring, and report methane emissions annually and transparently. Additionally, they are encouraged to introduce new technologies for methane monitoring, measurement and mitigation, and to support the implementation of regulations to tackle methane emissions.

Neptune is joining existing signatories to the initiative including BP, Eni, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Repsol, Shell and TotalEnergies, only days after QatarEnergy did the same. Aside from receiving energy companies involved in the exploration, extraction and/or production of oil or natural gas, this initiative is open to companies and institutions who support its aims including Worley, IPIECA and Wood Mackenzie.

Bob Dudley, OGCI Chairman, commented: “We are proud to welcome Neptune Energy to the Aiming for Zero Methane Emissions Initiative. Recognising that eliminating methane emissions from the oil and gas industry represents one of the best short-term ways of addressing climate change, I encourage others to join this ambitious effort to eliminate the oil and gas industry’s methane footprint by 2030.”

According to Neptune, the focus on introducing new technologies to monitor and mitigate methane emission builds on its work with the Environmental Defense Fund to deploy advanced drone technologies to measure methane emissions at its operated Cygnus platform in the UK North Sea.

In addition, this complements the company’s support of the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership and the World Bank’s Zero Routine Flaring by 2030 initiative.

When it comes to Neptune’s other recent activities, it is worth noting that the firm revealed in May 2022 that it plans to spend more than $1 billion over the next five years in a bid to secure energy supplies for the UK and speed up the transition to net-zero.